Afternoon summary
- The RMT has said it will resume talks with rail management tomorrow. But commuters face certain disruption again on Thursday, when the next national strike is scheduled, because of the extent to which services and timetables have already been upended. There is full coverage of today’s strike - the biggest for more than 30 years - and its impact in our rail strikes live blog.
- Boris Johnson has signalled that the government is not minded to give in to the RMT’s demands, telling cabinet that the country must be ready to “stay the course” because reforms to the rail network are essential. (See 10.14am.)
- Downing Street has defended its decision to oppose above-inflation pay rises for public sector workers while approving what is likely to be an above-inflation increase in the value of the state pension for next year. (See 12.51pm.)
- Michael Ellis, the Cabinet Office minister, has tolds MPs that Boris Johnson “intends to appoint a new ethics adviser”. But the evasive tone he adopted, when questioned in a Commons debate, left MPs sceptical about the value of his assurance. (See 5.21pm.) Later tonight MPs will vote on a Labour proposal for a Commons committee to appoint its own adviser to do this job if Johnson does not within two months choose someone to replace Lord Geidt, who resigned as ethics adviser because of Johnson’s lack of respect for the ministerial code.
Updated
More than half of Britons think rail strikes wholly or partly justified, poll suggests
And the Labour frontbenchers who are have been on an RMT picket line (in defiance of an order from Keir Starmer) may well be lined up with public opinion. According to new polling from Savanta ComRes, more than half of voters think the rail strikes are absolutely justified (20%) or somewhat justified (38%).
🚨New poll🚨
— Savanta ComRes (@SavantaComRes) June 21, 2022
A majority of UK adults say that the rail strikes this week are 'justified'.
Justified - 58%
Unjustified - 34% pic.twitter.com/LH24uTgKuZ
Commenting on the poll, Chris Hopkins, head of political research at the polling firm, said:
Much has been made of whether or not the public support these strikes, and our polling, that included an explanation of the dispute rather than an uninformed test of perceptions, shows a majority finding justification in the decision of rail workers to strike, along with general support for the principle of workers striking.
Tom Larkin, the spreadsheet supremo at Sky News, has started a tally of Labour frontbenchers expressing explicit backing for the rail strikes. He counts five shadow ministers or PPSs who have been on an RMT picket line.
New: 10 MPs in Labour's top team have signalled support for striking rail workers.
— Tom Larkin (@TomLarkinSky) June 21, 2022
5 have defied an order not to picket, inc a Shadow Minister and a party whip.
Big challenge now for Keir Starmer's authority - the party says a decision on punishments will be made on Friday. pic.twitter.com/pvgk27FPTL
Cabinet Office minister's repeated evasions cast doubt on PM's commitment to appointing new ethics adviser
At the end of his speech Michael Ellis, the Cabinet Office minister, eventually said Boris Johnson would appoint an ethics adviser to replace Lord Geidt. But he spent so long dodging the question that, when a quasi-commitment finally did come, it sounded pretty worthless.
Sir Robert Buckland, the Conservative former justice secretary, asked for an assurance that Boris Johnson would appoint a replacement for Lord Geidt as the No 10 ethics adviser (or independent adviser on ministers’ interests, to give him his formal title) “as soon as practical”.
Ellis said the matter was being given “very careful consideration”.
This prompted a worried intervention from John Penrose, who resigned over Partygate from his post as the government’s anti-corruption champion. He said Tory MPs had been given, before the debate started, an assurance that the minister would make a “strong commitment” to replacing Geidt. But Ellis had not done that, he said. He asked Ellis to give that assurance.
Ellis said he thought he had been clear. It was the government’s intention to “act quickly”, he said.
Joanna Cherry (SNP) said Ellis was still not being clear. Did he mean the government was going to act quickly to review how the system work, or act quickly to appoint a replacement adviser?
Ellis said “the position will be dealt with in good time”. But the how and when were still being worked on.
This reply seemed to make Ellis’s position even worse and Simon Hoare, the Conservative chair of the Northern Ireland affairs committee, told him: “This issue of ethics is proving to be a bit of an Achilles heel with the government.” It was in the government’s interests to replace Lord Geidt. Saying that he still was not clear what Ellis meant, he asked again for an assurance that a replacement would be appointed quickly.
In reply, Ellis gave an answer that turned evasion into an art form. He said:
Whether it be the phrase ‘as soon as reasonably practicable’, ‘as soon as possible’, I think is immaterial. I think I’ve made clear. I’m trying to emphasise - the how and when are to be worked out. The government will act with every possible expedition.
It was Karin Smyth, a Labour member of the public administration and constitutional affairs committee, who finally got an answer of sorts. She asked if the PM would be appointing a new adviser. Ellis replied:
The PM intends to appoint a new ethics adviser. We will announce how that is to be done, and who it is and how it works, in due course.
That sounded like a proper answer - although an intention to do something is not the same as a commitment to doing it.
The SNP’s spokesperson on Commons matters, Pete Wishart, opened his speech by saying he thought it was obvious from Ellis’s evasions that Johnson had “no intention” of moving quickly to replace Geidt. If Tory MPs were “taken in by this rubbish, God help them”, he said.
Ellis indicated that Tory MPs would be voting against the Labour motion. On the basis of these exchanges, it feels like some Conservatives may decide to abstain.
Updated
Ellis says Boris Johnson wants to have time to consider how the independent adviser system operates before deciding whether to replace Lord Geidt.
He also claims the Labour proposal is muddled. It confuses the legislature and the executive, because it wants to allow the legislature (a select committee) to appoint an adviser who would be serving the PM.
Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Lab) says Ellis has misunderstood the motion. The motion says the new adviser would be advising the public administration and constitutional affairs committee, not the PM, he says.
Ellis says it is clear what the intention of the motion is.
Sarah Owen (Lab) intervened to say that the first role of a new ethics adviser should be to “get the prime minister to find some ethics in the first place”. Referring to the recent story about Boris Johnson considering making his wife Carrie his chief of staff at the Foreign Office when he was still married and they were having an affair, Peacock said this wasn’t the first time he had wanted to spend public money on a girlfriend. It happened when he was mayor of London, she said.
Ellis said he would not dignify that with a response.
UPDATE: Originally this post said Stephanie Peacock asked the question, but I’ve corrected it because it was Sarah Owen.
Updated
Minister says Labour's plan to ensure new ministerial ethics adviser appointed 'entirely impractical'
Michael Ellis, the Cabinet Office minister, is responding to Rayner.
He says the government wants to uphold standards in public life. But it cannot support the Labour motion because it would be unconstitutional, he says.
If it were passed, it could lead to a Labour chair of the Commons public administration and constitutional affairs committee choosing the ministerial code adviser for a Conservative PM – or vice versa.
He said that would be “entirely impractical” and could lead to “gridlock”.
Updated
Rayner said that, when Lord Geidt resigned, Michael Ellis, the Cabinet Office minister, made a point of saying how much his work had been valued. But she suggested that the government’s true view of Geidt was revealed when Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, had taken to the airwaves to “mock and belittle him”.
She was referring to Dorries telling LBC yesterday:
You call him Lord Geidt. I think the rest of the country had never even heard his name before and used to call him Lord Geddit. I don’t think they give a fig who replaces him or even who he was, or what he did.
Rayner ended her opening speech saying:
If the prime minister won’t appoint an ethics adviser, we must do so.
Updated
Rayner launches Commons bid to ensure PM cannot abolish post of ministerial ethics adviser
In the Commons Angela Rayner, the Labour deputy leader, has just opened the debate on the opposition motion intended to bounce Boris Johnson into appointing a new ethics adviser for No 10 to replace Lord Geidt. My colleague Aubrey Allegretti wrote about the strategy here.
The Labour motion is not just declaratory; it proposes a change to the Commons standing orders, with an inclusion saying:
Following any two month period in which the role of independent adviser to the prime minister on ministers’ interests remains unfilled, the public administration and constitutional affairs committee shall appoint a specialist adviser, entitled the adviser on ministers’ interests, whose role shall be to advise the committee on the effectiveness of the ministerial code and on any potential breaches of that code.
Rayner said that Boris Johnson had now driven two independent advisers on ministerial interests to resign. Under Johnson, more rule breaking was inevitable, she said.
To this prime minister, ethics is a country east of London.
Rayner said she was concerned that Geidt would not be replaced. No 10 has already said that this might happen.
Jeremy Wright (Con) said that in the past he had backed Rayner when she called for the implementation of recommendations from the Committee on Standards in Public Life, on which he sits. The committee said the independent adviser should have the power to initiate their own investigations. But Wright said the proposal from Rayner today was not in line with what the committee wanted, because the committee thought the ministerial code should be the property of the PM, not a select committee.
Rayner said she would like to see the committee’s recommendations implemented in full. But she said that had not happened, which was why she favoured this approach.
In Wales Mark Drakeford, the Labour first minister, has not told his frontbenchers they must avoid RMT picket lines, the BBC reports. At first minister’s questions Drakeford said:
No inhibition exists on members of my group demonstrating their support for the trade union movement.
But Drakeford acknowledged the Keir Starmer, the UK party leader, was in a different position because the Conservatives wanted to depict him as likely to return the country “to days which have been left far behind”.
Mark Drakeford says he is not following Sir Keir Starmer in asking Labour colleagues to stay away from rail strike picket lineshttps://t.co/9ZNMyBgmU8
— BBC Wales Politics (@WalesPolitics) June 21, 2022
The Scottish Greens have been fined £2,300 for missing a deadline for filing their annual accounts for 2020, and blamed a third party for the delay.
Louise Edwards, the Electoral Commission’s director of regulation, said:
It is important for transparency that voters have timely and accurate information about political parties’ finances. The requirements are clear, so it is always disappointing when they are not met.
A Scottish Green party spokesperson admitted the breach. “We regret that due to documentation from a third party being received late, our statement of accounts for 2020 was not submitted on time. Our accounts received a clean audit and we are confident the problem will not reoccur.”
The commission also fined Kingston Independent Residents Group, a registered political party based in New Malden, Kingston on Thames, £200 for the late delivery of its annual accounts.
Levelling up bill 'substantially erodes public participation in planning system', say MPs
The Commons levelling up committee has written to Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, to express concerns that his levelling up and regeneration bill “radically centralises planning decision-making and substantially erodes public participation in the planning system”. Writing on behalf of the committee, which has a Conservative majoriy, Clive Betts (Lab), the chair, said in his letter:
The bill represents a significant change to the existing planning system. It undermines an important planning principle, the primacy of the development plan, by elevating national development management policies to the top of the planning hierarchy.
Unlike development plans, which are produced locally via a statutory process that involves considerable public participation, the bill contains no obligation to allow the public to participate in the development of national development management policies ...
The bill introduces a new mechanism to allow the secretary of state to grant planning permission for controversial developments, bypassing the planning system entirely. There is no right for the public to be consulted as part of this process.
Overall, in our view the bill radically centralises planning decision-making and substantially erodes public participation in the planning system.
In the Commons yesterday Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, cited, as one example of railway industry working practices in need of reform, the fact that working on Sundays was voluntary. This was a rule dating from 1919, he said.
In an interview with LBC today Mick Lynch, the RMT general secretary, said Shapps’ argument was nonsense. He explained:
We have a seven-day railway and the vast majority of our members work Sundays all of the time.
What we’ve got is a situation, the agreements that we’ve got on the contract of employment deploys their hours, their working time, their contracted hours over six days. And then Sunday is a roster day normally that gives a bit of premium. People can ask to decline to work if they’ve got a baptism to go to or some function, and then they go to the rest of the roster to find that replacement.
Former chancellor Ken Clarke says recession almost inevitable and UK in 'one of worst economic crises I can remember'
Kenneth Clarke is often seen as one of the most successful Conservative chancellors of modern times. Now in the House of Lords, he delivered a grim forecast for ministers in an interview on the World at One. Here are the main points.
- Clarke said the UK was facing one of the worst economic crisises of his lifetime and that a recession was almost inevitable. He said:
We are in one of the worst economic crises I can remember in my lifetime, certainly since 1979. We are, I think, almost certainly going to go into recession in the next couple of years, and the Bank of England has had to start tackling inflation, which has been allowed to get completely out of hand. And I don’t think it is going to be self-correcting ... Really strong actions has got to be taken to minimise the consequences of the economic problems we’re going to see over the next two years.
This contradicts the line taken by ministers like Boris Johnson who argue that, despite inflation being a problem, the fundamentals of the economy are strong.
-
He said it was essential for the government to ensure the rail strike ended in the defeat of the RMT. If that did not happen, other unions would make similar, inflationary pay demands, he claimed. “If a pay settlement is 10, 11%, then you’re going to have vast amounts of the public sector going in for the same militancy,” he said. He said:
I’m afraid that [the strike] cannot be allowed to look successful when it settles ... It must be seen to have been not worth it to have gone on strike for the railwaymen. That’s a situation we had reached by the time we got to the 70s and 80s. And I think we’ve reached that stage now.
Clarke is now regarded as a patrictan, one nation Tory, but as a minister in Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet, he was an implacable opponent of various public sector unions.
- He said that he expected public opinion to turn against the government as the strike went on. He said at first the public would be angry with the union on strike, but that after a week or so of disruption people would turn against the government. “You can become very unpopular as a minister when you continue to hold out against a pay claim that is, frankly, unaffordable and not in the public interest,” he said.
- He suggested it was rash for Johnson to promise a high-wage economy. That was “a conference phrase”, he said. “I would not make that the basis for policy at the moment.”
- He said criticised the fact that the government’s cost of living support helped people like him, instead of being more focused on people in need. The government had to “protect the poor”, he said.
You’ve got to protect the poor, stop giving me money to pay my power bills. I’m not rich, but I got £1,100 pounds out of the government in the latest package. It’s absurd. I’ve got two houses and I’m a pensioners. Very nice, but I don’t need it.
Updated
Kelly Beaver from the polling firm Ipsos says public opinion on the rail strikes is split. (See 2.11pm.) In an article for the New Statesman, based on data from a YouGov poll from earlier this month, Katharine Swindells backs up that claim, and explains in more detail how views are divided.
Polling earlier in June by YouGov found that British people are divided in their opinion of the strike. Half of respondents said they opposed rail workers striking over pay and conditions, while a third said they supported it.
There was a big difference across age groups. Half (49%) of respondents aged 18-24 said they supported strikes. Among older age groups, who tend to use trains far less frequently, there was significantly less support. Of those aged 50-64, a third (32%) said they strongly opposed rail workers going on strike, and among those over 65 it was 42%.
This chart illustrates the point very clearly.
Updated
Dominic Raab is facing demands today from 150 organisations to allow detailed parliamentary scrutiny of legislation that is expected to replace the Human Rights Act, my colleague Rajeev Syal reports.
In an interview with Times Radio Andrew Haines, chief executive of Network Rail, said that his organisation came very close to reaching a deal with the RMT last night. They were still talking at 8.30pm, he said.
We were so close, we were so close to avoiding the strike with a credible package for colleagues with the sort of workplace reforms that would be valued for the taxpayer as well. We were within a gnat’s whisker of that. And, that’s one reason why it’s so devastating to see this disruption.
Asked why, despite getting close, there was no deal, he said the problem was “the defence of working practices that just don’t make sense”.
Kelly Beaver, CEO of the polling firm Ipsos in UK and Ireland, told the World at One that votes were “very, very split” in terms of who they sympathised with in the rail strike. They were sympathetic to rail workers, not so sympathetic to the rail companies, but mostly sympathetic to passengers, she said.
Asked if they sided with employers or unions, and whether it was 50/50, Beaver said the figures were in that territory. She said her firm would be publishing the full details of the new polling tomorrow.
Johnson warns against risk of Ukrainian war 'fatigue'
And here are some of the other lines from the Downing Street lobby briefing.
- Boris Johnson told cabinet that he was concerned about Ukrainian war “fatigue”. Summing up what happened at cabinet, the PM’s spokesperson said:
The prime minister said there was a risk of growing fatigue around the conflict. He said it was vital to remember that the Ukrainians are fighting for freedom and that the UK would be steadfast in supporting them. He said we must not allow anyone to believe that making concessions to Putin would lead to anything but disaster. He said it would embolden not just Russia but their allies and have an impact on UK security and on our economy.
Johnson told colleagues that at the Commonwealth, G7 and Nato meetings he was attending over the next week, he would be pressing other world leaders not to give up on support for Ukraine.
- Johnson and Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, both stressed at cabinet the need to maintain fiscal discipline. The spokesperson said:
The prime minister said the public would expect the government to stick within their means at a time of global cost of living pressures. The chancellor emphasised that the government had responsibility to not take any action that would feed into inflationary pressures or reduce the government’s ability to lower taxes in the future.
- The spokesperson did not deny a report saying Johnson considered putting his wife into one of two jobs in 2020. The Mirror reports:
Sources say the PM wanted to get [Carrie Johnson] a job as a green ambassador in the run-up to the global climate summit in Glasgow. They claim his second idea was to line her up as communications director for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s Earthshot Prize.
The insiders suggest he wanted cabinet secretary Simon Case, who had previously been Prince William’s private secretary, to “take soundings”.
But the PM’s closest advisers were said to have vetoed both suggestions, warning either position could undermine his wife’s status as a private citizen.
Asked about the report, the spokesperson said Johnson did not “recommend” his wife for these jobs. But he did not deny that the option might have been discussed. He said:
The prime minister has never recommended Mrs Johnson for a government role, or one as part of the Earthshot Prize. Beyond that I wouldn’t get into any conversations the prime minister may or may not have had in private.
- The spokesperson confirmed that the government is considering changing the rules about how non-executive directors can be paid. But he also denied a suggestion in the report in the i that the government was considering, as part of this, lifting the cap on bankers’ bonuses. The spokesperson said what was being considered was removing “any unnecessary restrictions on paying non-executive directors shares”.
Updated
No 10 defends giving above-inflation rise to pensioners but not to public sector workers
At the Downing Street lobby briefing the prime minister’s spokesperson was asked to explain why the government was opposing above-inflation pay rises for public sector workers, on the grounds they would be inflationary, while approving an above-inflation increase in the value of the state pension for next year. (See 12.35pm.) The spokesperson said the government thought the pension increase would no be inflationary.
Referring to public sector pay, he said:
The view is that if we were to chase inflation in this way, by matching all demands on public sector pay, some of which would involve matching inflation and adding additional on top of that, that would be inflationary, and that’s what in the long term would actually make people feel like they had less money going forward.
Asked why raising the value of the state pension for 2023-24 by more than the likely rate of inflation for that year was not inflationary, he replied:
The chancellor needs to consider it all in the round and the view is that we can meet that commitment without stoking those inflationary pressures. But we did take difficult decisions with regards to the triple lock, a temporary one-year suspension.
Ben Riley-Smith from the Telegraph says the Downing Street arguments about pay and inflation now make little sense.
No 10’s contorted pay position:
— Ben Riley-Smith (@benrileysmith) June 21, 2022
1/ Public sector workers will not get an inflation level pay rise as it would be inflationary… but state pensions will rise by inflation
2/ Britain must become “high wage”, but neither public or private sector should give real term pay rises
3/ New tax cuts now would be inflationary so would be wrong… but £37 billion in cost of living spending is necessary despite impact on inflation… and the tax cut coming in next month is a good thing…
— Ben Riley-Smith (@benrileysmith) June 21, 2022
Treasury says triple lock means state pension rise next year likely to be 'significantly higher' than inflation
In response to a parliamentary written answer, Simon Clarke, chief secretary to the Treasury, has confirmed that the government will apply the pensions “triple lock” again this year. The mechanism, which was suspended last year because the impact of Covid meant it would have had a distorted impact, says pensions will go up in line with earnings, or inflation, or 2.5% - whichever is higher.
Clarke said:
Next year, the triple lock will apply for the state pension. Subject to the secretary of state’s review, pensions and other benefits will be uprated by this September’s CPI which, on current forecasts, is likely to be significantly higher than the forecast inflation rate for 2023/24.
This is from Josephine Cumbo, the FT’s global pensions correspondent.
NEW: UK Govt confirms the "triple lock" will apply for next year's state pension, meaning millions of pensioners are in line for 10%+ rises to their weekly income.
— Josephine Cumbo (@JosephineCumbo) June 21, 2022
Treasury minister confirms in response to written question.https://t.co/fZT03E3Lxj
Momentum, the Labour group set up to support Jeremy Corbyn and his agenda when Corbyn was party leader, says Keir Starmer’s attempt to ban fronbenchers from RMT picket lines (see 9.31am and 11.40am) shows the party has “lost its way”. A spokeperson for Momentum said:
The Labour party was founded to represent the interests of workers. But under Keir Starmer’s leadership, the party has lost its way. Instead, it is Socialist Campaign Group MPs out there on the picket lines with rail workers who refuse to accept cuts to their pay and conditions, in a time of spiralling inflation. That’s the basic solidarity that the Labour name demands.
It has also posted this on social media.
The Labour Party was founded to champion the interests of workers. Let's keep it that way.#RailStrikes pic.twitter.com/gjJHYI7Joh
— Momentum 🌹 (@PeoplesMomentum) June 21, 2022
Updated
RMT leader Mick Lynch says proposal to let agency staff fill in for striking rail workers unworkable 'nonsense'
In interviews this morning Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, reaffirmed the government’s intention to change the legislation to allow firms to use agency workers to fill in for staff who are on strike. (See 11.14am.) As we report in our overnight lead on the strike, Whitehall sources say No 10 and the Cabinet Office are pushing for this, rather than the business department.
Yesterday, the TUC and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) put out a joint statement opposing the idea “in the strongest possible terms”. They said it was unworkable.
This morning Mick Lynch, the RMT general secretary, also dismissed the idea, which he described as “nonsense”. He said:
I don’t know how bringing in untrained, non-safety critical, inexperienced workers into a dangerous environment like the railway – with high speed trains, there are high voltage distribution systems, there are rules and regulations that have the power of statute – how that will help anyone, whether they are a passenger or a worker or manager or whatever?
I don’t see how the use, the deployment of students or people who have got no work experience that are working for an agency will help anyone to resolve this situation, so as usual [Grant Shapps is] just spouting nonsense given to him from some policy unit which doesn’t help to resolve the situations which are in front of us.
Updated
And here is the Tory response to Labour MPs joining RMT picket lines. This is from Oliver Dowden, the Conservative party co-chair.
Nothing to see here, just a Labour whip joining a picket line as millions of people have their lives disrupted.
— Oliver Dowden (@OliverDowden) June 21, 2022
When we say these are Labour’s strikes, this is exactly what we mean.#StopLaboursStrikes https://t.co/QkVCM4xaP0
And this is from the Conservative party’s Twitter account.
First Labour failed to condemn the strikes. Now they're literally on the picket lines backing the chaos. pic.twitter.com/yjjgUTr2cI
— Conservatives (@Conservatives) June 21, 2022
Labour has said that the chief whip, Alan Campbell, will wait until the strike action is over before deciding what disciplinary action to take against frontbenchers and PPSs who have joined RMT picket lines despite being told not to. (See 11.40am.) A party spokesperson said:
Unlike the government, our focus is firmly on the public. The Tories are in charge, and they failed to fix it. The responsibility for this week’s chaos lies firmly with them. Boris Johnson and Grant Shapps must U-turn on their refusal to even meet with Network Rail and the RMT to urgently find a solution.
Updated
Labour whip joins parliamentary aides in defying order from Starmer not to join RMT picket lines
Some leftwing Labour MPs have joined RMT picket lines today - despite Keir Starmer’s office saying frontbenchers should stay away (see 9.31am) - and posting pictures on Twitter.
Earlier I posted a tweet from Kate Osborne, who joined an RMT picket lined despite being a parliamentary private secretary (PPS), which means she is covered by the order for frontbenchers not to join picket lines. (See 9.42am.) This is from Navendu Mishra, who as a whip is also covered by the instruction from Keir Starmer’s office.
This treacherous government has underfunded & mismanaged our public transport network for more than a decade.
— Navendu Mishra (@NavPMishra) June 21, 2022
As a proud trade unionist, I stand with all workers on our railway network who are taking industrial action to fight for their jobs & keep passengers safe #RailStrikes pic.twitter.com/5Mpo8jtReR
This is from Ian Lavery, a former Labour party chair.
Solidarity with the @RMTunion today and all days.
— Ian Lavery MP (@IanLaveryMP) June 21, 2022
Great support here in Morpeth. pic.twitter.com/XNn8wEajaY
This is from Richard Burgon, secretary of the Campaign group in parliament, which represents leftwing Labour MPs.
Great to pop to the picket line at Victoria Station this morning with other Labour MPs from the Socialist Campaign Group to show solidarity with @rmtunion workers forced by this Tory Government into strike action to defend their pay, jobs and conditions. pic.twitter.com/u6mgPV8LyN
— Richard Burgon MP (@RichardBurgon) June 21, 2022
This is from Zarah Sultana.
Great to join striking @RMTunion members at Victoria Station this morning alongside Socialist Campaign Group comrades ✊🏽 pic.twitter.com/EqkRvu7AVH
— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) June 21, 2022
This is from Beth Winter.
✊🚉 | Great to join striking @RMTunion members on the picket line at Victoria this morning with @socialistcam comrades (and my dad!)
— Beth Winter MP (@BethWinterMP) June 21, 2022
Solidarity. pic.twitter.com/f2lOKSx9ug
This is from Paula Barker, who as a PPS is under orders not to be on a picket line.
Proud to support the workers on the picket line at London Victoria this morning, alongside colleagues.
— Paula Barker MP (@PaulaBarkerMP) June 21, 2022
These workers keep our country moving safely 365 days a year. The least they deserve is to be paid properly and feel secure in their jobs. #RailStrikes @RMTunion pic.twitter.com/9qk1H8q2Xz
This is from Kim Johnson, another PPS.
Standing shoulder to should with @RMTunion alongside my fellow @UKLabour MPs this morning. Solidarity always. #ToryRailStrikes pic.twitter.com/MX9j4H4DL4
— Kim Johnson MP (@KimJohnsonMP) June 21, 2022
Tahir Ali says at some point he will be on a picket line.
I'll be out on the pickets today to support @RMTunion members.
— Tahir Ali MP (@TahirAliMP) June 21, 2022
Solidarity to all those who are out taking action to protect jobs, ensure safety, and win better pay and conditions. pic.twitter.com/aPxWhv14kH
And Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader who is currently suspended from the parliamentary party, has posted this on Twitter expressing his support for the RMT.
Solidarity with @RMTunion railway workers striking up and down the country this week.
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) June 21, 2022
We cannot let the profits of the rich cannot continue to grow at the expense of workers’ jobs, wages, conditions, pensions and safety. pic.twitter.com/rmi8DuK6Ch
Shapps claims, if he got involved in talks with RMT, that would not make settlement of dispute more likely
Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, gave a round of interviews this morning about the rail strike. Here are the key points.
- Shapps implied that, if he were personally to get involved in the talks with unions, that would not make a settlement of the dispute any more likely. He told Sky News:
If I thought there was even a one in a million chance that my being in the room would help sorted it out, then I’d be there. Mick Lynch is the head of the union, the RMT, and he said last month he would never negotiate with a Tory government.
Shapps also claimed that if he were in the room, that would undermine the talks. Asked why, he explained:
Because these are highly technical negotiations, they involve 20-plus areas of reform which are required which are extremely technical.
Shapps said the call of him to get involved personally was a “red herring” publicised by Labour. He said when Labour was last in government, ministers did not get involved in industrial disputes with firefighters and postal workers; they left it to management. Not gettting involved was “standard practice” for ministers, he claimed. And he said in the 1970s, when unions leaders were invited into No 10 for “beer and sandwiches”, labour relations did not work out well.
- He said the government’s emergency committee, Cobra, would be meeting this week to consider the impact of the rail strike.
- He said he expected fewer than 20% of trains to be running today.
- He claimed that Mick Lynch, the RMT general secretary, was “determined to turn himself back into one of those 1970s union barons”. (The frequent reference by ministers to union barons - see 10.14am - is evidence that the government is run by a journalist. No one else talks about union barons. It is classic journalese. Unlike real barons, who sit in the House of Lords, the union ones hold office because they are elected by their members.)
- Shapps confirmed that the government would change the law to allow firms to bring in agency workers to minimise the disruption caused by strike action
- Shapps said the government was still committed to legislating to force train companies to operate a minimum level of service during strike action.
Network Rail boss denies ministers urged it to cap pay offer
On the Today programme this morning Andrew Haines, chief executive of Network Rail, argued that, if modernisation could be used to make the railways more effective, he would be able to offer rail workers a much more generous pay rise. But unions were opposed to modernisation, he claimed. Giving examples, he said:
We have people who won’t share the same van, so we send two vans to site ... They block for nearly a year the introduction of an app so that we can communicate with our own staff, [they’re] blocking the introduction of new safety planning tools, restricting the use of new technology, not turning on a forward-facing camera in a car or a van that they’re driving, [we’re] having to roster people in whole teams regardless of the size of the task, not being able to move people from work that’s not necessary to work that is necessary.
When this was put to Mick Lynch, the RMT general secretary, he said all of those items were being discussed. He said the union was willing to negotiate change. But it wanted a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies, he said.
As my colleague Emily Dugan reports, in his Today interview Haines also denied being told by ministers to cap the pay increase being offered to rail workers at 3%. He said:
The government recognises there’s so much productivity available in the industry that for the right deal we could go above that. So 3% would be a constraint if we weren’t able to achieve any productivity.
Updated
Johnson signals he will not give in to RMT rail demands, telling cabinet they must 'stay the course' and push through reforms
Boris Johnson opened cabinet this morning with a message saying reform in the rail industry was essential. In the past we normally only found out what the PM said at cabinet when No 10 (or other ministers) briefed it out, but for the last few weeks Johnson has been using cabinet as a photo opportunity and he has invited in a camera crew to record his opening spiel. Here are some of the points he made this morning, from what was broadcast by Sky News.
- Johnson claimed the government was making bigger investments in railways than any previous government. The integrated rail plan alone was worth £96bn, he said. It was “truly transformational”, he claimed.
- But he claimed that investment would not be possible without reform. He said:
But if we’re going to do these colossal investments, as we are and as we must, we’ve got to have reform ... It cannot be right that some ticket offices, I think, are selling roughly one ticket per hour. We need to get those staff out from behind the plate glass onto the platforms interacting with passengers, with customers, in the way that they want to do.
And we need the union barons to sit down with Network Rail and the train companies and get on with it.
- He said the country had to get ready to “stay the course” because reforms were essential. They would cut costs, he argued.
We need, I’m afraid, everybody - and I say this to the country as a whole - we need to get ready to stay the course. Because these reforms, these improvements in the way we run our railways, are in the interest of the travelling public. They will help to cut costs of fare payers up and down the country.
‘Stay the course’ sounded like a Thatcherite declaration that he was not going to give in to the union demands at any point. But whether the government retains the appetite for a no-compromise approach if disruption continues over the summer may be another matter.
'We need to get ready to stay the course'@BorisJohnson urges commuters to continue enduring the rail strikes in order to win reforms to the UK's railways
— ITV News Politics (@ITVNewsPolitics) June 21, 2022
It comes amid fears the rail union's dispute with the government could last months https://t.co/Ag1p3ltm8j pic.twitter.com/YcUpcNUOyC
- Johnson said that if the modernisation programme did not go ahead, ticket prices would get more expensive. He told cabinet this morning:
If we don’t do this, these great companies, this great industry, will face further financial pressure, it will go bust and the result will be they have to hike up the cost of tickets still further so that people don’t use the railways at all or use them much less than they used to.
And that will, I think, be a disaster for this country and for our economy.
And he was a bit more blunt on this point in a quote released by No 10 overnight in the press notice previewing what he would be saying. This quoted Johnson as saying:
I want to be clear – we are not loading higher fares on passengers to carry on paying for working practices that date back in some cases to the 19th century.
This line is interesting because until now the government has attacked the strike largely on the grounds that it will cause intense inconvenience to commuters. But this argument links the strike, and rail reform, to the government’s longterm plan to help people with the cost of living.
Updated
The Labour MP Kate Osborne, who is parliamentary private secretary to the shadow Northern Ireland secretary Peter Kyle, has joined an RMT picket line, in defiance of the orders from Keir Starmer’s office. (See 9.31am.) Asked if she would face disciplinary action, Pat McFadden, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, told Sky News: “That’s a matter for the whips and for Keir Starmer.”
On the picket line at Bromley.
— Kate Osborne MP (@KateOsborneMP) June 21, 2022
I'm a trade unionist, I will always stand on the side of the workers.
Solidarity @rmtunion#TubeStrike #railstrike pic.twitter.com/xu6JGunJod
‘You don’t lead by hiding’, Unite leader tells Starmer as Labour orders frontbenchers not to join rail picket lines
Good morning. The rail strikes are set to be the dominant political story of the week and today - which sees the first day of a national strike by RMT members, as well as a strike on the London tube - may well see the worst disruption of the week.
My colleague Geneva Abdul is writing our stand-alone train strikes live blog, where there will be coverage of all aspects of the strikes - political interventions, but also what is happening on the transport network, and the experiences of commuters.
Inevitably there will be some overlap with this blog, where I will be covering the politics of the dispute, as well as other, non-rail Westminister stories.
For most people the main question generated by the strike is, ‘Will I be able to get to work?’ But for the political obsessive class what’s most interesting is , ‘Who’s going to get the blame?’ Boris Johnson is desperate to persuade the public that Keir Starmer is responsible. Seeking to revive folk memories of the 1978 winter of discontent, the PM has made a case based on three premises: 1) Labour won’t condemn the strike; 2) the party is linked to the trade union movement (although not the RMT, which disaffiliated from Labour almost 20 years ago); and 3) some Labour MPs have said they support the RMT walk-out.
But it is still quite hard to land this argument, as the Conservative MP Mark Jenkinson (a loyal Johnson supporter) demonstrated this morning when he posted this on Twitter.
A vision of @UKLabour's Britain... https://t.co/16WLGuTNWe
— Mark Jenkinson MP (@markjenkinsonmp) June 21, 2022
Jenkinson was only elected in 2019, but even he must remember that Conservative or Conservative-led governments have been in power since 2010.
In truth, people normally blame the government when services go wrong and even Johnson must realise that the ‘blame Starmer’ strategy will only get him so far. Public perceptions of trade unions are more positive than they used to be and you need to be close to pension age these days to have a proper memory of the winter of discontent.
But Labour is still nervous, and last night Sienna Rodgers at Politics Home revealed that frontbenchers have been told not to join picket lines. Starmer’s office has sent a message to shadow cabinet members saying:
We have robust lines. We do not want to see these strikes to go ahead with the resulting disruption to the public. The government have failed to engage in any negotiations.
However, we also must show leadership and to that end, please be reminded that frontbenchers including [parliamentary private secretaries] should not be on picket lines.
Please speak to all the members of your team to remind them of this and confirm with me that you have done so.
Unsurprisingly, this has infuriated people on the left. Last night Sharon Graham, general secretary of the Unite union, which in the past has been Labour’s biggest donor, posted these on Twitter.
The Labour Party was founded by the trade unions and we expect Labour MPs to defend workers, by words and by actions. To instruct Labour MPs not to be on picket lines with workers speaks volumes. 1/2
— Sharon Graham (@UniteSharon) June 20, 2022
You don’t lead by hiding. No one respects that. It’s time to decide whose side you are on. Workers or bad bosses? 2/2
— Sharon Graham (@UniteSharon) June 20, 2022
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Boris Johnson chairs cabinet.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
11.30am: Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
After 4pm: MPs begin a debate on a Labour motion that would require the Commons public administration and constitutional affairs committee to appoint its own adviser on the ministerial code if Boris Johnson has not replaced Lord Geidt as his own independent adviser on ministers’ interests after two months.
I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.
If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.
Alternatively, you can email me at andrew.sparrow@theguardian.com
Updated
